Konin Melissa CardenasKonin began the practice of Zen meditation in 1987, and was ordained a Soto Zen priest in Japan by Sekkei Harada Roshi in 2007. She lived at Tassajara and City Center for several years. Shosan Victoria Austin is her senior practice leader. Currently Konin is the leader of the SFZC group Dharma en Espaņol, and co-chair of the SFZC Cultural Awareness and Inclusivity Committee. She works as a spiritual care counselor at Pathways Home Health and Hospice in Oakland, California. She is also an amateur calligrapher and sumi-e painter.

Shosan Victoria AustinShosan Victoria Austin began practicing both Zen and yoga in 1971. In the Soto Zen tradition, she is entrusted as a Dharma heir in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, an international priest of the Soto School, and a Dharma teacher at San Francisco Zen Center. She trained in the U.S., in India, and in Japan. In the Iyengar tradition, she is certified as an Intermediate teacher.